PROFILE

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Teaching
My interest in teaching has been fostered by twenty seven years of graduate as well as post-graduate tutoring\teaching and mentoring at Jahangirnagar University. I have had considerable amount teaching experience in a number of core Media undergraduate courses, including Screen Writing, Media Production Studies, Video Project 2: Docu-Fiction, Television Studies and Film Studies. I have also tutored courses such as Acting for Radio, Television and Film, and Directing for Radio, TV and Film.  I usually deliver lectures to students and trained them up as student actors or directors for the screen and drama productions through practical workshops. I have also taught a course on ‘Research Methodology’. This compulsory course was designed for the Doctoral students in enhancing their knowledge in the qualitative and quantitative methods and enabling them in applying the understanding in their own research design.

Apart from those courses I also taught several other courses including Advertising, Aesthetics, Bangla Literature and Art, Emergence of Bangladesh, Greek Drama, Introduction to Bangla Theatre and Introduction to World Theatre, Shakespearean Drama, Set Design and Construction and Theatre Production courses. I therefore consider myself well placed to extend my teaching in these areas as well confident to get involved in developing new modules and courses. My interest and confidence in teaching has been reinforced further over the years through my participation as guest lecturers on numerous occasions in different institutions such as the Asian University of Bangladesh, Perdana College of Malaysia (Dhaka Campus), Bangladesh University, East West University Bangladesh, Independent University Bangladesh, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, National Institute of Mass Communication, Bangladesh and Bangladesh Cinema and Television Institute. While lecturing any module I had total responsibility for determining module objectives, planning and assessment criteria. Hence I am use to input into the design and content of lecture programmes.

Organisational Skills

In 2006, when I was the Head of the department at the Department of Drama and Dramatics, I spent a significant amount of time liaising with my colleagues and administration within the department, faculty and across the university. I also took part in the Senate body, Academic Council and the Board of Advanced Studies to define the academic goals of my department to the internal stakeholders. I have worked with the various ethnic groups and organisations to enhance my organisational skills. at the Moreover my prior experience of working as a Media Consultant in the English in Action programme at the Open University of UK proved my abilities of organisational skill where I was able to complete my assignments successfully.

I have experience of working in the media industries in Bangladesh.  I have worked in a 16mm film production in Bangladesh, where my responsibility was to arrange, rehearse, coordinate and conduct production activities during pre-production, production and post-production phases as a Chief Assistant Director. I have co-produced five episodes of a TV series which were broadcasted on the TV channel, ‘Channel I’ on 2003.  A flexible approach and adaptability to overcome the limitation of working in a different workplace was learned through this engagement.

Communication Skills

My ability to communicate rationally and friendlily made me confident to work effectively with a team. Preparing academic calendars and planning strategies for its implementation eventually helped my colleagues for their further career development. Mentoring the junior colleagues by the senior colleagues was proven as an effective way for team responsibility in the academic arena.

I have good communication skills, as my jobs at Jahangirnagar University, AQA, the Open University, UK and the University of Manchester and other academic organisations have allowed me to deal with my students, colleagues and other people verbally. Moreover my written skills have been enhanced gradually over the last twenty years through my academic as well administrative writing practice. My work as a Media Consultant and Transcriber in the English in Action programme at the Open University of UK was another testimony of my communication skills.

Research Activities

I’ve taken the challenge to work individually in many research projects. For example, while working with the minor ethnic groups (Khasia, Tripuri and Monipuri) in Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, I carefully planned and organised my research projects effectively and conducted many small focus groups (FG) discussion to obtain perceptions of a defined interest area. Conducting FGs in the permissive and non-threatening environment helped me to get a wider range of information than other research strategies. I have also long-standing experience in conducting interviews, case studies and other methods such as observation techniques and secondary data-gathering methods. My ability to manage codes and utilise large volumes of data was proven through the successful completion of my various post-doctoral research works at the Manchester Institute of Innovation and Research and at the School of Arts and Digital Industries of the University of East London.

E-mail: shajjad.ahsan@juniv.edu

Official Website: https://www.juniv.edu.bd/teachers/shajjad.ahsan

Research Profile:  Google Scholar     Research Gate     ORCID      Scopus    

RESEARCH INTEREST

I am enthusiastic about ongoing research in Media Innovations and Media Practices. I am particularly keen to work on exploring the dynamics of technology integration of Media industries within the developing countries.

• RESEARCH & PUBLICATION
• TEACHING
• ACADEMIC INFO
• EXPERIENCE
• CONTACT